The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released its first list of candidates for the Haryana elections just a day before the nomination process begins. The jumbo list released by the BJP has names of candidates for 67 out of 90 assembly seats. Five are names of sons and daughters of leaders. OBCs dominate, and two families, Bhajan Lal and Bansi Lal, have also been taken care of. Union Minister Rao Indrajit’s choice has dominated the seats in the Ahirwal belt, and the people who joined the party recently also seem to have been taken care of. What are the equations of the first list of the BJP?
1- Focus on OBC, preference given to Jat too
In Haryana, BJP has been focusing on non-Jat politics. After the Jat voters mobilized in favor of Congress in the Lok Sabha elections and their displeasure with BJP, it was being said that the party may play the non-Jat card in ticket distribution as well. But this did not happen. Out of the 67 names in the first list, the maximum number of tickets have been given to 14 OBCs. BJP has given place to Gujjar, Yadav, Kashyap, Kamboj, Rajput and Saini. Along with OBCs, BJP has also bet on 13 Jat and 13 Dalit leaders. From the Dalit community, candidates have been given from Valmiki, Dhanuk, Bavariya, Bajigar as well as Jatav community.
BJP has given tickets to both Jat and Dalit communities almost equal to OBCs, so the reason behind this is also an attempt to counter the strategy of the opposition. Due to the influence of Bhupendra Singh Hooda’s family, the image of Congress in Haryana has been that of a Jat party. In the recent Lok Sabha elections, in an attempt to get out of this image, Congress worked on the strategy of giving preference to non-Jat leaders in ticket distribution and it also gave good results. Congress was successful in winning five out of 10 seats in the state, so the credit for this was given to the strategy of betting on non-Jat leaders.
Congress is preparing to go with the same strategy in the assembly elections. Congress, which is trying to end its 10-year exile from power in the state with the help of the caste of the candidate, Jat and Muslim-Dalit mobilization, has now been trapped in the Jat game by BJP with the Jat card. Along with the core voters like Bania and Brahmin, BJP has also fielded faces from Bishnoi, Punjabi, Sikh, Rajput and Jat Sikh community in the electoral battle.
2- Women’s card with ethnic math
BJP has tried to solve the caste equations in the first list, it has also taken care of the women vote bank which is considered its silent voter by rising above caste and class. The party has also given tickets to eight women in the list of 67 candidates. The party has given tickets to Shakti Rani Sharma from Kalka, Santosh Sarwan from Mullana (reserved), Kamlesh Dhanda from Kalayat, Sunita Duggal from Ratia (reserved), Renu Dabla from Kalanaur (reserved), Manju Hooda from Garhi Sampla Kiloi. BJP has fielded Shruti Chaudhary from Tosham and Aarti Singh Rao from Ateli. The party’s strategy behind the women card is to reduce the resentment due to the wrestlers’ agitation and the problems in getting the benefits of the schemes through the portal. The party is trying to manage small vote blocks and is also working on a strategy to convince its core voters.
3- Cut the two families of the opposition into two families of ‘Lal’
Families have been influential in Haryana politics. Among the famous political families of Haryana are the families of three Lals – Bhajan Lal, Bansilal and Devi Lal. Congress has the Hooda family, while Devi Lal’s legacy is being carried forward by the Chautala family’s Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janata Party (JJP).
Also read: CM Naib Saini’s seat changed, 9 MLAs’ tickets cancelled… Important points of BJP’s list in Haryana
To overcome the challenge of Hooda and Devi Lal’s family in the opposition, BJP has given preference to the families of the other two Lals – Bhajan Lal and Bansilal. Bansilal’s daughter-in-law Kiran Chaudhary had recently joined BJP and the party has sent her to Rajya Sabha. Now BJP has fielded Kiran Chaudhary’s daughter Shruti Chaudhary from Tosham seat in the assembly elections. Bhajan Lal’s son Kuldeep Bishnoi is also in BJP and the party has given ticket to his son Bhavya Bishnoi from Adampur seat.
Also read: Haryana: Why is BJP candidate from Charkhi Dadri Sunil Sangwan being linked with Ram Rahim?
After the Lok Sabha elections, it was being said that the BJP has sidelined Kuldeep Bishnoi, but in the assembly elections, the party first made him a member of the state election committee, the convener of the election management committee and now has given tickets to his son as well as his close ones. In the first list of the BJP, candidates have been fielded on five seats keeping Kuldeep’s choice in mind. These include the names of his son Bhavya Bishnoi from Adampur, Randhir Panihar from Nalwa, Doodaram Bishnoi from Fatehabad, Ranbir Gangwa from Barwala and Manmohan Bhadana from Samalkha. Doodaram Bishnoi is also Kuldeep’s cousin.
4- Bet on new faces to counter anti-incumbency
To deal with anti-incumbency, BJP has cut the tickets of nine MLAs including ministers of Saini government. The party has changed the seats of many MLAs and has also bet on new faces. There are 27 new faces in BJP’s first list. Youth have also been given preference in ticket distribution. BJP has cut the tickets of Deepak Mangala from Palwal, Vishwambhar Valmiki from Bawani Khera, Narendra Gupta from Faridabad, Sudhir Singla from Gurugram, Minister of State Sanjay Singh from Sohna, Sitaram Yadav from Atel, former minister Sandeep Singh from Pehwa, Minister of State Sanjay Singh from Sohna and Laxman Napa from Ratia.
5- Bets on outsiders, leaders’ sons and daughters also get tickets
Along with betting on leaders from other parties, BJP has also made the sons and daughters of leaders as candidates. BJP has fielded four leaders from JJP – Devendra Babli, Ramkumar Gautam, Pawan Kumar and Sanjay Kablana. The party has also given tickets to Nikhil Madan, Bhavya Bishnoi and Shruti Chaudhary from Congress, Ambala Mayor Shakti Rani Sharma from Haryana Jan Chetna Party and Shyam Singh Rana from INLD.
Also read: ‘Nayab Singh Saini toh…’, Congress taunts on the list of BJP candidates in Haryana, accuses of nepotism
Talking about the sons and daughters of leaders, BJP has given tickets to Kuldeep Bishnoi’s son Bhavya Bishnoi, Kiran Chaudhary’s daughter Shruti Chaudhary, Union Minister Rao Indrajit’s daughter Aarti Rao, Kartar Bhadana’s son Manmohan Bhadana and Satpal Sangwan’s son Sunil Sangwan.
What is the message of BJP’s first list?
BJP, which is trying to score a hat-trick in Haryana, has given the message through its first list of candidates that it will no longer give a walkover to its rivals on the pitch of Jat politics. The party is now trying to create a new equation of votes by combining Jats and Dalits with the OBC vote bank. BJP, which has been attacking the opposition parties on the pitch of nepotism, will not shy away from giving tickets to leaders coming from influential families, leaders’ sons and daughters, provided their chances of winning are high in the election survey.
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